The Most Inconvenient Feelings
by YowieYaoi
Summary: It was Vitani's job to keep an eye on Kovu as he infiltrated the Pride Lands, to make sure that Zira's plan went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but get distracted by a certain princess, much to her frustration.


**Note: Decided to rewatch The Lion King 2 for the first time in years a few weeks ago. Now let's gay it all up.**

The lush grass of the Pride Lands was vibrant green in colour this time of year. With her tawny pelt, it didn't give Vitani as much camouflage as she would have liked, but she was able to conceal her scrawny form within its sheer length and density. What little grass grew in the outlands was never thick like this; this grass was the lifeblood of the Pride Lands, the primary food source of all its plump prey animals. And soon, if everything went according to plan, it would all belong to them.

Zira's plan had to succeed. It _had_ to, and Vitani was here to make sure it would. It wasn't that she didn't think her brother wasn't capable, after all, she and Kovu had trained together for the better part of their lives, and she knew his strength better than anyone. But there was always a chance of complications, and she was ready to step in and eliminate any threats to their victory as they appeared. Vitani knew she had to be alert. She had to be ruthless. This was the mission she'd been training her whole life for, and she felt as though the entire outland pride was depending on her.

Which was why it was so unacceptable that her mind kept wandering to the most ridiculous thoughts, right now of all times.

Vitani peered downhill, gaze fixed on the young golden lioness who was also trying to conceal herself in the grass. The princess was attempting to be stealthy, keyword here being "attempting". Nearby, Kovu lounged in a small clearing, ears pricked, but clearly not bothering to stay very alert. From what she could see, the two were engaging in basic stealth training, the kind that Vitani had witnessed and undergone many times in the outlands. She'd never seen an adult lion perform it this incompetently though.

Kiara crawled slowly through the foliage, raising her head up every now and then to get her bearings relative to her target. She began to close in, circling around towards him from the west.

 _Idiot,_ though Vitani. _He'll smell you if you come from that direction. Can't you read the wind?_ Sure enough, she saw Kovu's nostril's flare, and he lifted his head to smell the breeze. A smile spread over his muzzle, but he made no attempt to move, instead choosing to simply wait for the inevitable. Vitani watched as Kiara closed the distance, saw her haunches bunch up, and her tail give a little involuntary flick of excitement. Then, like a dazzling sunbeam, she leapt.

In that instant Kovu stepped smoothly to the side, effortlessly dodging the attack he had long known was coming. Kiara slammed into the ground where he would have been, stumbled and tumbled over herself, landing in an ungainly heap in the dust. Another failed attempt. _Pathetic,_ Vitani thought with a sigh.

Kiara quickly righted herself, locking eyes with her frowning mentor, her expression sheepish. Then she did something Vitani wasn't expecting. She laughed. She had just failed her training, embarrassed herself in front of others, and she was laughing, treating the whole thing like it was some kind of… some kind of game.

To Vitani, it just didn't add up. This wasn't how any respectable outland warrior conducted herself. It should have made her feel angry. Yet there was something… something about the _way_ she laughed. Something about the way the corners of Kiara's mouth lifted, and her eyes lit up, it made Vitani feel… warm inside. And that made even less sense.

She watched Kovu say something critical to the young princess that she was too far away to make out, then gesture with his tail for her to try again. Kiara complied eagerly, and Vitani couldn't help but admire her persistence. Actually, there were rather a lot of things she couldn't help admire about her, as she was discovering over the course of her surveillance. She'd been watching the two of them all morning, and she'd slowly found herself noticing things like the softness of Kiara's fur and the way it was gently ruffled by the breeze, or her well defined muscles and the strength in her legs as she carried herself proudly across the savanna. All these things typically made her angry and resentful of the well fed, privileged pridelanders, but she was finding that she felt… well, differently when they were applied to a certain princess.

Another thud snapped Vitani out of her thoughts. Kiara had missed another attack, and Kovu was now looking extremely bored. She shook her head, trying to clear it of everything but the task at hand. She was getting distracted again, letting down her guard down, and that wouldn't do. Her mission was of critical importance to the success of Zira's plan, she _couldn't_ risk letting her family down. She scowled down at the princess, silently cursing her for making her surveillance so difficult.

All of a sudden, Kovu was on the move, bounding up the hill opposite her hiding spot. Kiara followed him, and Vitani waited for the princess to get a good distance away before rising to her paws and trailing after them.

As she walked, she wondered to herself: why? Why couldn't she stop thinking about Simba's daughter? Well, she sort of knew why. She'd long known about her fascination with other lionesses, a longing that none of them seemed to share or reciprocate. Once Vitani realized that her feelings weren't typical of a lioness her age, she'd shoved them to the back of her mind, refusing to acknowledge their existence. After all, there were more important things to worry about in the outlands, such as their upcoming conquest of the Pride Lands and subsequent return to glory. So why did these feelings have to come bubbling up again now, when their plans were so close to completion? She blamed princess Kiara, and her bitterness towards the princess fought with a much warmer emotion in her chest every time she laid eyes on her.

It was, if she was being completely honest, kind of annoying.

When Vitani finally, cautiously crested the hill, she was surprised to see Kiara and her brother conversing with a warthog and a meerkat. Her eyes narrowed. Those two were close lackeys of Simba, and while she didn't think they were dangerous, their presence here was alarming. Had Simba sent them to spy on Kovu? Did he still suspect betrayal? She felt like she should go back and report this to Zira, but then Nuka would have to take over her post and he… well, she didn't like to think ill of her brother, but… he _was_ Nuka. And besides, she was so determined to do this on her own…

Vitani was still debating what to do when Kiara decided to roar, which drove everything else from her mind.

It was sound that was both beautiful and terrifying, and it startled her enough to make her almost jump up out of her hiding place. It wasn't as loud or as deep as Kovu's roar, but it was still a proud sound that carried the weight of royalty. A flock of birds took off in fright, and Vitani felt her heart pounding with something that definitely wasn't fear. She fought a completely idiotic desire to roar back.

"Stop it," she whispered to herself, staring at her paws as she tried to regain her composure. "Stop acting like a stupid smitten cub." It was infuriating. The outlander's mission was to eliminate Simba, not swoon over his pretty little daughter. The mission must come first. Her pride was depending on her, her mother was counting on her. This needed to stop.

With great force of will, she shut Kiara out of her mind, focusing her eyes on Kovu instead. His safety was her top priority, and until Simba was killed, nothing else mattered. Nothing at all.

The rhinos came as a bit of a surprise to Vitani.

She'd watched the other two lions running around after a flock of storks, roaring and prancing like a pair of excitable cubs. As much as she felt sickened by this colossal waste of time and energy, she couldn't help but feel a tiny pang of jealousy. They did look like they were enjoying themselves (Kiara in particular, to Vitani's irritation), and it had been so long since she'd ever stopped training to do something just for fun. Though for Kovu it had probably been much longer.

They'd chased the low flying birds into a shallow ravine, disappearing from view and forcing her to break cover to keep up. She'd followed their trail through the gulch very cautiously, constant afraid that she'd turn a corner and run right into them, ruining everything. Instead, she'd come face to face with a herd of stampeding rhinos.

 _Rhinos? RHINOS!_

Vitani had barely made it out of there with her pelt intact, having to scale a steep rock wall to avoid getting gored. What Kiara and her brother had done to make them so angry she had no idea, but boy were they mad. By that point she had, of course, completely lost track of her two targets. Great.

 _Where in Scar's name are you two?_ she cursed, hurrying back the way she came, ears and eyes peeled for any sign of them. There were the stupid meerkat and warthog, back on the hill, gorging themselves with bugs. But there was no sign of the two lions. Vitani gritted her fangs in frustration, and turned to go searching in the other direction. If Kovu had gone and gotten himself killed by rhinos on her watch, she'd be furious. If Kiara had… she reminded herself forcefully that she did not care about what happened to Kiara.

She found neither hide nor hair of them in the gulley, which was a partial relief meaning they hadn't been trampled, but now Vitani was starting to get annoyed. Without cover, and without her brother nearby, she was acutely aware of how dangerous it was for her to be alone in the Pride Lands. Any pridelander who spotted her wouldn't hesitate to attack. The very land beneath her feet felt unwelcoming.

It was nearly sunset by the time she found them. She was padding down a grass slope, when suddenly, there they were! Right below her; she'd nearly stepped off a ledge right on top of them. Heart racing, Vitani flattened herself into the grass, hoping that the princess hadn't seen her. Luckily, they were too engrossed in their own conversation to notice how close she was.

"…anything like that in the Outlands?" Kiara was saying.

"Not really," Kovu replied. The two of them were walking back towards Pride Rock side by side, but slowly, not in any kind of rush. "If we were chasing anything, it was for food or training. It's been… ages since I've just let loose like that." A tiny smile twitched onto his face. "It felt good."

"Did it now?" teased Kiara, her eyes sparkling. "Well, we _pridelanders_ may not have the sneaking skills of you outland folkbut at least we know what fun is."

Something had changed between them, Vitani realized this at once. They were closer together, walking at nearly the same pace. Their tones of voice were warmer, with none of the stiffness of distrust they'd carried before. Something was definitely going on here, and it filled Vitani's mind with suspicion.

"So," Kiara continued in a softer, still teasing voice, "you admit that spending time with me isn't as terrible as you thought it was going to be?"

"Well…" Kovu hesitated for a moment too long, and his face bore a flustered expression that Vitani had never seen before. In that instant, she suddenly understood what was going on between the princess and the outlander, and it filled her with dread.

"…being with you is… a lot of fun, actually."

 _No…_

"I guess," continued Kovu, trying too hard sound natural, "that's because… I like you, Kiara."

 _No!_

Kiara swung her head around to face him, eyes wide and ears flattened with embarrassment. "Really?" she asked. After a few heartbeats, her face broke into a smile and she added "Well, I like you too, Kovu."

 _NO!_

Vitani stifled a gasp, her head spinning with the same thoughts over and over again. Kovu was falling in love with the princess. The princess was falling in love with Kovu. Kiara was falling in love with her brother and there was nothing she could do about it. This wasn't part of Zira's plan, not at all. This could ruin everything.

She felt sick, sick to her stomach with anger at her brother for letting his feelings betray him and endangering the mission. But mostly she felt a different emotion, one that rose up from the pit of her stomach and spread into every fibre of her being… jealousy. Because she was, against all logic and common sense, jealous that Kiara was falling for her brother and not her. There was just a tiny part of her that wished she could be the one to walk beside the princess, feeling her soft sandy pelt brushing her own. She wanted Kiara to gently tease her like she'd done with Kovu, and to see her sparkling eyes light up at something she had said. She had only been watching her for a day or two, yet she felt a burning desire to love, and be loved, by her.

 _That won't ever happen,_ said a cold voice in her head. And Vitani sighed, believing it. After all, Kiara was a princess. And what was she? Not a prince, not a pridelander, nothing. Even Kovu was somebody. He was the heir of Scar, the saviour of the outlands, and oh yeah, _male_. What reason would Kiara have to notice some scruffy outland lioness when he was around? She was less than the dust beneath the princess's paws. So why, then, could she not let go of these feelings? What would it take for her heart to realise that this was a hopeless cause?

The fading voices of the other two lions snapped Vitani out of her funk. She quickly got to her paws and started slinking after them, trying to keep them in earshot. She had to know more. She crept closer, closer than she otherwise would have dared, until she could hear them again loud and clear.

"We should probably start heading back now," said Kiara. "My dad's probably shedding his mane with worry by now."

"Yeah, I guess," said Kovu, sounding resigned.

The two of them gazed off at the towering silhouette of Pride Rock in the distance, spearing up into the twilit sky. Although neither lion said a word to each other, it was clear neither one wanted to leave the other's company just yet. _They're so close already,_ thought Vitani disgustedly, and her jealousy spiked up again.

After a few more moments of silence, Kiara turned to look her companion in the eye. "Hey," she said with a grin. "What if we just didn't go back to Pride Rock? Let's go do something fun instead. Dad'll be fine."

Kovu raised an eyebrow, letting a tiny smirk grace his muzzle. "Oh really?" he drawled. "What do you have in mind, your _highness?_ "

Kiara paced for a few seconds, weighing up her options in her head. Then she smiled, and asked "Have you ever been stargazing Kovu?"

"Not since I was a cub."

"My father and I used to stargaze all the time." She turned and began walking again. "Come on, I'll show you my favourite spot. It's past Pride Rock, so we can walk by it on the way. Dad will definitely be looking out for me, so that way he'll see me and know that I'm fine, which will leave us free… to…" She trailed off.

"Free to what?" asked Kovu.

Kiara had stopped in her tracks. Slowly, she lifted her head to warily sniff the air. "Kovu," she said softly. "Do you… smell something?"

Vitani's heart stopped.

"What do you mean by something?" muttered Kovu, lifting his head to get a whiff too.

"I mean I think I can smell another lion."

Panic seized a horrified Vitani as she comprehended the terrible mistake she'd made. The wind. She'd forgotten to read the wind. All this time she'd been upwind of them, letting the breeze waft her scent right to their noses. She'd been too distracted by her jealously to notice this basic, basic thing. _You IDIOT,_ she yelled in her head.

She had to get out of here, and quickly, or it'd all be over. She whirled around and pelted away through the long grass, unheeding of the noise she was creating. Her cover had already been blown anyway.

"Did you hear that?" Kiara gasped.

Just before Vitani got out of earshot, she heard her brother say "I don't smell any lions. You pridelanders must have broken noses, or maybe…" Then she was too far away to hear the end of it, but she got the gist. Kovu was covering for her, covering for the thoughtless, juvenile mistake she'd made.

She ran and ran back towards the outlands, trying to outpace her embarrassment. The sun had dipped below the horizon by the time the young lioness reached the river that separated the two territories, and the first stars of the night were beginning to twinkle overheard. Vitani lay down, panting from exertion, and allowed herself to glance back at the now distant Pride Rock. Kiara was probably looking up at the same stars at this very moment.

She sighed, laying her head down on her paws, ears drooping in shame. She'd come so close to ruining everything today, everything the outlanders had toiled so hard to achieve. She'd let herself become so careless, and for what? A silly, one-sided crush on the daughter of the enemy? What would Zira say if she knew…? Well, it wasn't like Vitani could tell her. Her mother had no idea that she liked girls, and the thought of confessing that to her now of all times filled her with dread. No, this was one failure she definitely couldn't report.

Vitani traced her claws in the dirt, frowning at the dusty patterns they made. To kill Simba. That was what she was here to make happen. She'd let herself lose sight of that goal, and that had been her mistake. She thought about Kiara again, and she felt a pang of sadness in her heart. It wasn't as if it would ever happen anyway. After all, they were here to kill the princess's _father._ And when the outlanders took over, Kiara would be banished at best, and at worst… well, Zira would finish her off. Vitani dug her claws deep into the earth and grimaced. Such a waste of a beautiful lioness. If only Kiara had been born on her side of the river… but then again, the outlands had a way of uglifying the hearts and minds of those who dwelled there. Would Kiara still be as beautiful if she'd been raised as Vitani had? She certainly wouldn't smile that stunning smile as much.

After letting her thoughts simmer for a few more minutes, Vitani stood up. Enough moping, it was time to get on with things. She hadn't been the only one to fall in love with the princess tonight, and she strongly suspected that Kovu was on the verge of making an even huger mistake than she had. She needed to go back.

Vitani turned and loped back towards the Pride Lands. As she went, she gathered up all her thoughts of Kiara, all those fuzzy feelings that had been giving her so much trouble, and locked them away in the back of her mind. This was a war. There could be no room in her heart for hopeless love when killing was her aim. And so, with the last of her doubts pushed away and her mother's lessons ringing in her ears, Vitani disappeared into the lush grass of the Pride Lands once more.

 **Boy howdy, this is my first published fanfic. If you made it this far, please tell me what you think in the reviews. This is only intended as a one-shot at this time, but I found myself surprising invested in this pairing. Maybe I'll write another fic for it one day, one that isn't so one-sided perhaps. Don't hold me to that though.**


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